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36 words were chosen to represent the 6 values of the Allport-Vernon Study. Length and familiarity of words were equated in each category. Each word was shown to each of 25 college students at exposures starting at .01 second and increasing until recognition occurred. Average recognition time was .065 sec. for words of the category in which a subject had the highest value score of the Allport-Vernon Study, and .097 sec. for the lowest value category. A chisquare test indicates significant relationship between value orientation and recognition time. Words guessed before correct recognition were classified as Covaluant, Contravaluant, Structurally similar, Nonsense, and Unrelated responses. More covaluant responses were given to high-valued words, and more nonsense or contravaluant responses to low-valued words. It is proposed that value orientation produces selective sensitization, lowering thresholds for acceptable stimuli and raising thresholds for unacceptable stimuli. Guesses are not haphazard. Perceptual defense leads a person to avoid the meaning of low-value words, whereas value resonance keeps a person responding in terms of valued objects even before perception is certain. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)
Postman et al. (Thu,) studied this question.